Weekly Wrap Up

This week the government shutdown in the US ended after what was 16 days of battling between the Senate and House of Representatives. Congress was able to reach an agreement that extends the debt ceiling until early 2014 when the similar funding decisions will need to be made. The markets continued their rally through the end of the week on the realization that the economic stimulus will have to continue and multiple upbeat corporate earnings.

Morgan Stanley (MS), Google (GOOG) and General Electric (GE) all finished the week with positive reports.

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs (GS) announced earnings that largely missed expectations, raising concerns among analysts. Despite a loss on Friday, gold futures ended with a 4% gain for the week. Oil futures tallied its fifth losing week in the past six.

At least 70,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits during the government shutdown, but now that Congress has approved back-pay for them, the states want the money back. (Source: CNN) Click here to read the full article

Shares of Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) crashed more than 70% last week, after the company reported that its top drug candidate, the leukemia drug Iclusig, had been put on a temporary hold by the FDA. (Source: InvestorGuide) Click here to read the full article

Is it lights out for BlackBerry (BBRY)? After the company posted a $1 billion loss, and said it’s sitting on warehouses of unsold phones, there’s good reason to think so. (Source: MarketWatch) Click here to read the full article

Your Money

Throughout the recent fiscal showdown in Washington, D.C., I’ve maintained that hating the government, though sometimes understandable, is not an investment strategy. (Source: Forbes) Click here to read the full article